Number of ‘Hibakusha Appeal’ signatures sent to UN exceeds 8.3 million

October 12, 2018

It has come to light that in the Hibakusha Appeal international signature-collection campaign calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons, the total number of signatures delivered to the UN exceeds 8.3 million.

As delegates from a civil group promoting the Hibakusha-led international signature-collection drive, A-bomb survivors, Kido Sueichi and Hamasumi Jiro, visited the United States on the sidelines of the latest session of the UN General Assembly. They are the secretary general and vice secretary general of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo).

The two Hibakusha on October 10 at the UN Headquarters handed over a register of 8.3 million signatures to the chair of the UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, Ion Jinga (Romanian Ambassador to the UN) and UN High Representative for International Affairs Nakamitsu Izumi. The 8.3 million signatures are the sum of 5.15 million signatures which were submitted to the UN in October last year and more than three million signatures collected between November 2017 and September 2018.

In the meeting with the Romanian diplomat and UN top official, Kido referred to the UN effort to nurture a collaboration between governments, experts, and citizens to achieve arms reduction. He said, “The Hibakusha-led signature drive began in response to this UN effort.” Kido went on to say, “I hope, with hundreds of millions of signatures, nuclear disarmament will be realized while remaining Hibakusha are still alive.”

The UNGA First Committee chair expressed his appreciation for a large number of antinuke signatures and said that he was really impressed by Hibakusha choosing to share their painful stories with others and for demanding to live with dignity.